Masonic history workshop in Surbiton

Details of a forthcoming event from the Library and Museum of Freemasonry in London:

Lodge, Locality and Livelihood: Exploring Masonic lodges and their local links

• Have you wondered about freemasons in your community and the role they played in shaping its history?
• Do you care for records relating to freemasonry but would like to know more about them?
• Would you like to know more about interpreting the information they contain?

Following the success of our event in Manchester last autumn, the Library and Museum of Freemasonry is delighted to offer another free one day workshop. This will provide an opportunity to investigate the relationship between freemasons and society, focusing on localities in Surrey, Hampshire, Sussex, Kent, Middlesex and south London. This event will be held on Wednesday 2 May at Glenmore House, The Crescent, Surbiton, Surrey KT6 4BN- includes lunch and other refreshments.

The programme includes the following presentations:

• A Bigger Picture: lodge stories on a wider stage, Dr Beverley Butler, UCL
• Freemasonry and sources for its study, by staff of the Library and Museum of Freemasonry, an introduction to printed and archive resources available for researching Masonic lodges in localities – where did lodges meet and how can I find out about them? Who were lodge members? What will Masonic records tell me about my community?
• Sources for local history, Matthew Piggott, Surrey History Centre, What records are available for research at a local record office? What information might they contain about freemasons and lodges?
• Lodges and locality: a case study presented by David Sermon, author - Men, not walls, make the city: Freemasonry in Winchester

After lunch there will be an opportunity to participate in practical sessions using original and facsimile printed and archive resources to explore the inter-relationship between Masonic and non-Masonic sources, c.1750 to 1950.

Booking essential. To book please find the booking form on our website at: www.freemasonry.london.museum/events/free-workshop-lodge-locality-and-livelihood/
or contact Len Reilly, Historical Records Survey Project Manager at:
lreilly@freemasonry.london.musuem

or contact
Library and Museum of Freemasonry, Freemasons' Hall, 60 Great Queen Street, LONDON, WC2B 5AZ Tel: 0207 395 9256

Please provide the following details:
Your name, Organisation (if appropriate), Contact address, e-mail or telephone number, Any access or dietary requirements, All bookings will be acknowledged

(With thanks to Len Reilly, Historical Records Survey Project Manager)

Chris

British GENES on Facebook at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES and Twitter @chrismpaton

Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk and www.facebook.com/ScottishGenealogyResearch

Archives - use them or lose them

East Surrey Family History Society is hosting an event called Archives - Use Them Or Lose Them, on Saturday April 28th 2012 at the United Reformed Church in Addiscombe Grove in Croydon. For full details see www.eastsurreyfhs.org.uk/agm/2012/agm2012.html

Would love to go - not least of which because my great great uncle James Paton once lived on that very street, at number 23 (although he was an elder at St. George's Presbyterian Church)!

(With thanks to @SurreyHeritage)

Chris


British GENES on Facebook at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES and Twitter @chrismpaton

Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk and www.facebook.com/ScottishGenealogyResearch

UK Land Tax Redemption records

Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk) has released a new collection entitled UK, Land Tax Redemption, 1798. From the site:

What’s in the Records

"Two Acts led to the creation of these tax lists. The first, 38 Geo. III, c. 5, set a land tax for the year 1798. Act 38 Geo. III, c. 60, made that tax perpetual. These registers list both owners and occupiers of land that was subject to the tax. While they provide no details on the properties, they do record the amount assessed and sometimes a redemption date.

"Because this was a national tax, these records provide almost a mini census. If your ancestor was a landowner or renter, they will very likely be listed in these records. Some records may contain information through 1811, particularly records for Buckingham County."

Just to add, by "UK", Ancestry means England and Wales. The collection is accessible at http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=2319.

Chris

British GENES on Facebook at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES and Twitter @chrismpaton

Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk and www.facebook.com/ScottishGenealogyResearch

Family history talk in Stewartstown

Valerie Adams of PRONI will be giving a talk on Tracing Your Family History at the Crieve Centre, Stewartstown, on Monday 26th March at 8pm. The event is hosted by Stewartstown Local History Society, and all are welcome - admission for non-members is just £2.

The full story is at www.tyronetimes.co.uk/community/trace-your-family-tree-history-talk-1-3642797

Chris

British GENES on Facebook at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES and Twitter @chrismpaton

Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk and www.facebook.com/ScottishGenealogyResearch

Irish and Scottish Family History Day in Blantyre

Oh here, this one involves yours truly!

The National Trust of Scotland’s DAVID LIVINGSTONE CENTRE and LANARKSHIRE FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY are proud to host an Irish and Scottish Family History Day at the David Livingstone Centre Blantyre on Saturday 14th April 10:00 – 4:30pm

In the Africa Pavilion (Admission Free)

• Irish family history - Help and Advice Desks
• Scottish family history - Help and Advice Desks
• South Lanarkshire Libraries
• Croy Historical Society
• Coatbridge Irish Genealogical Project - CIGP
• Family and Local History Bookstall
• + More

Victoria Room Lectures (£3 covers entry to all talks)

• 10:30 - Titanic Connections - The Carlisles of Ballymena, Elizabeth McCarrol LFHS “Irish Interests” Co-ordinator
• 11:45 - Irish Material and PRONI, Dr Irene O’Brien Senior Archivist, Glasgow City Archives
• 1:30 - Irish Research Using the Internet, Chris Paton Lecturer, Author and Genealogist
• 2:45 - The Roman Legacy at Nethercroy Seamus Coleman Chairman Croy Historical Society

To book a place for the Talks and for further information phone
David Livingstone Centre on 0844-493-2207

Lanarkshire Family History Society Registered Scottish Charity SC 028690
email:- secretary-lanarkshirefhs@hotmail.co.uk www.lanarkshirefhs.org.uk

Chris

British GENES on Facebook at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES and Twitter @chrismpaton

Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk and www.facebook.com/ScottishGenealogyResearch

TNA user group update

Thanks to Else Churchill for flagging up the minutes of the recent TNA user group at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/get-involved/user-advisory-group.htm

Some highlights on the digitisation front (see www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/uag06031207c-digitisation-update.pdf for full details):

Military

Chelsea pension and militia records are online, with more military material to come though, including Royal Hospital Chelsea's Irish equivalent, Royal Hospital Kilmainham (British and Irish soldiers could be discharged to pension at either hospital, irrespective of original nationality - discharged where they ended up basically!):

• WO 119 Royal Hospital, Kilmainham: Pensioners' Discharge Documents (Certificates of Service) 1757-1849  [though not records from WO 118, Kilmainham pension admission books]
• WO 121 Royal Hospital, Chelsea: Discharge Documents of Pensioners 1760-1887
• WO 122 Royal Hospital, Chelsea: Discharge Documents of Pensioners, Foreigners' Regiments 1816-1817
• WO 128 War Office: Imperial Yeomanry, Soldiers' Documents, South African War 1899-1902
• WO 131 Royal Hospital, Chelsea: Documents of Soldiers Awarded Deferred Pensions 1838-1896

The above has all been digitised by FindmyPast, so should be being processed, indexed etc now.


Maritime BMDs

FindmyPast has digitised the following maritime BMD registers:

• ADM 80/4-12 (Registers of dead men's wages)
• ADM 183/114-120, ADM 184/43-54 (Various registers of marriages, births and deaths, children's BMD records etc)
• ADM 242/1-15 (Naval officers' deaths, war graves, ships lost etc)
• BT 153/1-22 (Registers of wages and effects of deceased seamen)
• BT 156/1-4 (monthly lists deaths of seamen)
• BT 157/1-9 (Registers of seamen's deaths, classified by cause 1882-1888)
• BT 334/1-117 (Registry of Shipping and Seamen: Registers and Indexes of Births, Marriages and Deaths of Passengers and Seamen at Sea)
• CO 386/170/172 (Registers of births and deaths of emigrants at sea)
• CUST 67/74 (Register of Deaths and Births at Sea, Falmouth)

I should add the descriptions in brackets are not complete, just a quick explanation I've whipped up from the references in the document to give an idea of what's coming! The TNA documents states they went live on Feb 29th - they didn't, but they will be out next month.


Crime, Courts and Convicts  

Lots of stuff coming in September of this year:

ADM 6/418, 420-422 | CRIM 9 | HO 7 | HO 8 | HO 13 | HO 17 | HO 18 | HO 19 | HO 23 | HO 24 | HO 47 | HO 77 | HO 130 | HO 140 | MEPO 6 | PCOM 2 | PCOM 3 | PCOM 5 | T 38/310-338).


War Diaries: First World War

The project's too big to deliver in time for November 2014 - so they're restricting it to divisional records from France and Flanders only, still approximately half of the records. They also cannot afford to transcribe the records now, but are exploring possible crowd-sourcing options to deliver on that.

Various other records sets are also discussed, including Household Cavalry papers, Royal marines officers' records, gallantry at sea awards and more - full details in the minutes. There is also a useful cataloguing update for other collections at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/uag06031207b-cataloguing-update.pdf and a reserve list for those under consideration at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/uag06031207b-cataloguing-update-reserve.pdf.

(With thanks to Else and TNA)

Chris

British GENES on Facebook at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES and Twitter @chrismpaton

Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk and www.facebook.com/ScottishGenealogyResearch

Two more talks on WDYTYA Live site

Two further recordings of talks given at Who Do You Think You Are? Live 2012 are now available on the events website at www.whodoyouthinkyouarelive.com/news/listen-our-workshops-online. These are:

Using Google Images: A Genealogical Goldmine, with Maureen Taylor (Sat 25th Feb, SoG Studio 2)
What's Online for Ireland; an Overview, with Paul Gorry (Fri 24th Feb, SoG Regional Studio).

Show notes for each are available at www.sog.org.uk/events/2012show-handouts.shtml

As before, I am having problems with listening to them via Google Chrome, but no problems via Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox.

UPDATE 21 MAR: The recording of Maureen Taylor's Using Google Images talk now seems to have been removed from the site - the show notes accompanying it, however, can still be accessed at www.sog.org.uk/events/2012show-handouts.shtml

Chris

British GENES on Facebook at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES and Twitter @chrismpaton

Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk and www.facebook.com/ScottishGenealogyResearch

Worcestershire records on The Genealogist

The Genealogist has made the following announcement:

"We have added over 9,800 individuals to our Parish Transcripts for Worcestershire in partnership with Malvern Family History Society, expanding our coverage and bringing the total to over 890,000 individuals. With years ranging from: Baptisms: 1700-1849"

(With thanks to @thegenealogist on Twitter)

Chris

British GENES on Facebook at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES and Twitter @chrismpaton

Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk and www.facebook.com/ScottishGenealogyResearch

FamilySearch updates

The following collections have been updated so far this month in the British Isles section of the new FamilySearch website (www.familysearch.org):

• Channel Islands Births and Baptisms 1820-1907 (15 MAR)  41,650 records
• England, Births and Christenings 1538-1975 (19 MAR) 69,084,513 records
• England, Marriages 1538-1973 (17 MAR) 16,145.328 records
• Ireland, Marriages 1619-1898 (10 MAR) 430,834 records
• Isle of Man, Births and Baptisms 1821-1911 (13 MAR) 224,076 records
• Isle of Man, Marriages 1849-1911 (10 MAR) 42,671 records
• Wales, Glamorgan, Parish Register Marriages 1837-1922 (7 MAR) 56,282 records
• Wales, Marriages 1541-1900 (10 MAR) 39,117 records

Chris

British GENES on Facebook at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES and Twitter @chrismpaton

Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk and www.facebook.com/ScottishGenealogyResearch

Family History Monthly ceases publication

Family History Monthly (www.familyhistorymonthly.com), produced by Diamond Publishing on behalf of the Metropolis Group, has ceased publication with the April 2012 issue (207).

A letter has been sent to all subscribers with the last issue stating the following:

We are very sorry to let you know that this is the final issue of Family History Monthly magazine as it is ceasing publication. I know this will be disappointing news and we would like to thank you for your support to the magazine.

The letter then goes on to discuss how the subscribers list for the magazine has been purchased by Who Do You Think You Are magazine (as first suggested by reader Rosemary Morgan on Feb 27th in a comment on this post), and so for uncompleted subscriptions this magazine will now be sent out instead of Family History Monthly.

As a monthly contributor to the magazine I was first informed a few weeks back before Who Do You Think You Are? Live, where it was one of the hot topics of discussion with many fellow contributors, but following the show the editorial team had been extremely vague about whether it was ending or not - first it was, then it possibly wasn't etc, and hence why I have not commented further on it until now. It's sad to see it go, the fifth UK based genealogy magazine in the last two years or so to do so, following on from the demise of Ancestors, Practical Family History, Discover my Past England and Discover my Past Scotland.

However, all is not lost! The remaining magazines, Your Family Tree, Family Tree, Your Family History and Who Do You Think You Are are all great publications, as is Irish Roots just over the water - access their respective offerings by clicking on the dedicated links.  

To recently appointed editor Jen Newby and the rest of the editorial team at Family History Monthly, the very best of luck for the future.

Chris

British GENES on Facebook at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES and Twitter @chrismpaton

Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk and www.facebook.com/ScottishGenealogyResearch